Within the ready interval earlier than the NBA Finals, Boston Celtics heart Al Horford celebrated his thirty eighth birthday. For many, being a 38-year-old skilled athlete principally equates to taking part in bingo on the senior heart twice per week.
That isn’t the case for Horford, who stays as impactful as ever.
All through Boston’s run to the NBA Finals, the veteran huge man took on an elevated function whereas Kristaps Porzingis recovered from a soleus pressure — and he thrived, together with a 22-point efficiency in Sport 5 towards the Warmth and hitting 7-of-12 from behind the arc within the Japanese Convention Finals.
He carried that momentum into Thursday’s Sport 1 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, the place not everybody was conscious that Horford’s age is only a quantity.
The primary bucket of the sport was a loud slam from Large Al. He used a pump faux to drive previous Daniel Gafford on the baseline as Luka Doncic made the enterprise determination to not soar with him.
You assume the athletic play would’ve been a touch that he’s nonetheless acquired fairly a bit left within the tank, but it surely was not. As a substitute, Doncic fell in love with the concept of making an attempt to assault Horford on the defensive finish. He’d constantly name for screens in an effort to get the large man in a swap.
It simply didn’t work out.
In accordance with the NBA’s monitoring for defensive matchups, Horford held Doncic to simply two factors on 1-of-8 from the sector and 0-4 from deep.
Luka Doncic when 38-year-old Al Horford was the first defender in Sport 1, per NBA monitoring:
1-8 FG, 0-4 3PT, 1 BLK, 2 PTS
Mavs had been 5-19 FG (26.3 FG%) vs Horford general. Group-high 13 pictures contested, 3 deflections. pic.twitter.com/fPAzSxII7q
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) June 7, 2024
It sounds easy, however Horford’s capability to stick with the All-NBA guard is priceless. It basically permits the Celtics to roll out a lineup with no defensive weaknesses and really feel assured operating a switch-everything gameplan. That is particularly necessary when taking part in the Mavericks.
Dallas likes to hunt mismatches and exploit defensive liabilities. It’s how they dismantled the Minnesota Timberwolves within the Western Convention Finals. Doncic or Kyrie Irving would use screens to drive Rudy Gobert out onto the perimeter, then make the most of the Defensive Participant of the 12 months’s restricted quickness.
Simply take a look at Luka’s Sport 2 dagger for instance.
Don’t get me fallacious, it’s nonetheless very doable that one thing like this might occur with Horford because the defender because of Doncic’s sheer expertise. However, Sport 1 — very like the remainder of the playoffs — showcased Al’s mobility and self-discipline on protection.
This type of efficiency shouldn’t come as a shock both, Horford had loads of follow switching onto speedy guards throughout Boston’s run to the Finals. Gamers like Tyler Herro, Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Tyrese Haliburton, and Andrew Nembhard attacked him with restricted success.
I’ll without end have the reminiscence of Garland repeatedly failing to capitalize on the “mismatch” in Boston’s closeout Sport 5 win towards the Cleveland Cavaliers in Spherical 2. Horford blocked him thrice within the win and had Garland so worn down that his legs gave out whereas making an attempt to blow by him.
Now, it doesn’t remotely imply he’s much less expert or simpler to defend, however Doncic doesn’t have the identical quickness as these different guards do. He’s an incredible participant and makes use of wonderful footwork in addition to his energy to create nice seems for himself and his teammates. He simply can’t attempt to goal Horford in the identical method that he does with different facilities as a result of Al has higher footwork than most bigs within the league.
Issues might change over the course of the collection. For now, I’m certain the Celtics might be simply high quality with Doncic making an attempt to assault Horford in switches.
